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Volunteers from across the country commit to one year of service on Pine Ridge Reservation
posted on August 27, 2009

Nineteen volunteers from across the country have converged on Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to share their knowledge, talents and gifts as they work alongside students and teachers during the 2009/10 academic year. The young men and women have made a one-year commitment to the institution, volunteering on the Red Cloud and Our Lady of Lourdes campuses.
    
For first-time volunteer Michael Mallon, a recent graduate of Michigan State University, the volunteer program is a way to share his spirituality with others while learning from the very students he’ll work with.
    
“Spending this year with the students and educators at Red Cloud will open dialogue between myself, the Jesuits and the Lakota people,” says Mallon, who will be a teacher in the third grade. “I’m very excited for all the possibility this new academic year will bring, and I hope to be challenged—while challenging others. I truly feel like this is my calling.”
    
By living amongst the Lakota people, volunteers are able to work closely with the students and families of the Pine Ridge Reservation, oftentimes forming friendships that last the test of time. In fact, some volunteers return to the reservation after their year of service to work full-time at the institution. Volunteers take on a number of responsibilities, from librarians to classroom teachers to youth ministry organizers. Many drive school buses before and after school as well.
    
Six of the 19 volunteers at Red Cloud are returning for a second year. For English Teacher Anne Grass, a returning volunteer from St. Louis, the first year was so life changing that she decided to commit to another year on the reservation.
    
“The Red Cloud Indian School system is quite amazing,” says Grass, a high school English teacher. “You learn about the supremacy of human relationships while encountering the storied culture of the Lakota people. I couldn’t ask for a better, more rewarding experience.”
    
Paddy Gilger SJ, coordinator of the volunteer program, says the service provided by these volunteers is important not only to offsetting the personnel costs of the school, but also to “providing an integration of a volunteer’s spirituality and service that can be a wonderful model to our young Lakota students.”
    
“We are humbled to have so many wonderful young graduates working with us this year,” adds Fr. Peter Klink SJ, president. “I look forward to an exciting year with these volunteers as they bring new energy and innovative ideas to our institution.”

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